The Lamigo Monkeys are to hold a victory parade in Taoyuan tomorrow to celebrate winning the Chinese Professional Baseball League’s Taiwan Series, team officials said yesterday, while announcing a series of special events and sales at corporate parent Lamigo’s core businesses and participating stores.
The Monkeys on Thursday crushed Brothers Baseball Club in Game 5 of the best-of-seven, season-ending series at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, a 20-3 blowout victory that secured them a third consecutive championship.
The Monkeys have been the league’s most dominant team over the past decade, winning the championship five times in the past six years, and their ferocious batting lineup set several new records in this season’s final game.
In Game 5, the Monkeys cranked out 21 hits, including a record five home runs, and their 20 runs set a new record for the Taiwan Series, surpassing the previous high of 19.
The 17-run winning margin was also a new record for the series.
The Monkeys also became Taiwan’s fourth professional team to win the championship title in three consecutive years, joining the now-defunct Weichuan Dragons, the then-Brother Elephants and the Uni-President Lions.
After the game, Lamigo general manager Justin Liu said: “I am proud to say that our team can be considered a powerhouse with the three-peat.”
“This is a wonderful accomplishment. It is a perfect ending, just like in the movies. I wish time could be frozen at this moment forever,” he said, referring to the game being the last for the club as the Lamigo Monkeys.
Earlier this year, the ball club was purchased by Tokyo-based e-commerce giant Rakuten. They are to be renamed the Rakuten Golden Eagles starting next season, but would continue to play home games at the Taoyuan International Baseball Stadium.
Head coach Hung Yi-chung was modest about the victory.
“We were more fortunate in these games — luck was on our side,” Hung said.
“But it was not easy, as heading into the post-season, our coaching staff had lots of work, from helping players recuperate from injuries to tuning their conditioning from our late-season slump,” Hung added.
Second-year Monkeys player Lin Li was voted Most Valuable Player for the finals after recording 13 hits, three home runs and 11 RBIs for a 0.520 batting average over the five games.
Separately yesterday, Taiwan were as of press time last night leading South Korea 7-1 through the seventh inning in the medal round of the Asian Baseball Championship at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium.
In the afternoon contest at the stadium, Japan trounced China 11-1.
South Korea are to face Japan at noon today at Taichung Intercontinental Baseball Stadium, followed by Taiwan taking on China at 6:30pm.
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